Eccentric
by Freedomofexpression7
Summary: She didn't know how to describe him. He was strange and everything in between. From the way he glomped people randomly to the way he always wore a sappy grin on his face. He was an enigma. Something that she, whether she liked it or not, would unravel. (Nagisa x OC)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi guys! I decided to write a new story, but this time make Nagisa the star! haha. I wanted to try and write in first person to see if it would go well. Please read and tell me what you think!**

**Disclaimer: Free! doesn't belong to me, it belongs to it's rightful and respective owners. I only own my OC!**

**Chapter 1 - Part-time jobs are fun.**

Boring. That was the first word that came into my mind. I was currently sitting behind the counter at Shiro's Splash 'N' Dash Shop, the puff of air from the air conditioner wafting into my face, feeling anything but excitement. I shouldn't have expected much from a place that specialized in swimming products. I mean, what person in there right mind would come to a shop that sold nothing but swim wear and cheap, sea scented soap on a Friday afternoon?

I sighed and continued to fiddle with my uniform. The bright blue jumper was a tad too big for me and ended past my arms, but I didn't mind. What really annoyed me was the mandatory skirt I had to wear. It was grey and simple, but was way too short for my liking. I looked with envy towards one of the male workers, who was wearing black, long, luxurious pants. _Lucky bastard._

I was snapped out of my thoughts, when I suddenly heard the phone ring. I picked up the receiver and took a deep breathe."Hello, this is Shiro's Splash 'N' Dash! Where our motto is 'If it's not fast, then it's not Splash 'N' Dash!' How may I help you?"

"Hello? This is Arata Ikeda?"

I gulped at the familiar name. Arata Ikeda, also known as my new boss, was talking on the other line.

"G-good afternoon sir!"

"Oh! Hikari, is that you? How is my newest employee?

"I'm fine, sir!" I resisted the urge to curl up in a ball and cower in a corner.

"Good, good. I just wanted to talk to Karin about the new shipping's were getting in next week."

I nodded, but remembered he couldn't see me. "Yes, sir! I'll hand you over now."

I motioned towards Karin, a worker who had been here longer than me and she took the phone. My shoulders slumped in relief and all energy was drained from my body. It wasn't that I was scared or frightened of Mr Ikeda, he was a very sincere and kind man. It was just that...he treated me differently from the other staff. I shuddered at the memory of my interview. Now was not the time to be thinking about such disturbing things.

Still bored out of my mind, I decided to flip through one of the nearby magazines. It was full of models dressed in swimming costumes and striking fancy poses. I yawned, and was almost considering the thought of taking a nap,when I heard the bell to the front door of the shop tinkle. My body nearly jumped ten feet in the air as I quickly assumed my position behind the counter and tied my black strands of hair into a neat ponytail. I took several deep breaths, to calm myself down and looked with curiosity to the doorway.

"Hey, Rei-Chan! Let's look at the swim wear section!"

My eyes greeted me with two, fairly built teenage boys. One of them, shorter than the other, was obnoxiously loud and running around the store shouting "Wow! This is so cool" and "Look at this, Rei-Chan!" The other, whom I was guessing was 'Rei-Chan', was quietly following in tow, every now and then stopping to inspect an article of clothing or product.

I sighed in annoyance at the disturbance. _Well, I did ask for more excitement... _I checked the clock on the wall. I only had half an hour of my shift left. _Might as well be happy that I at least got some customers today_. I nodded my head, determined to keep up a positive attitude towards the end of my part-time.

"Ah-ha! This one is perfect! The measurements of the leg and waist best suit my body type."

I could still hear the customers loud, irritating comments but managed to keep a smile on my face.

"That one looks nice, Rei-Chan! But how about this one?"

"N-Nagisa-Kun! That one has penguins on it! I refuse to wear something so weird!"

"Awww...But Rei-Chan!"

I rolled my eyes, seeing the two boys emerge from the the swim wear section. Now that they were closer, I could make out their features better. The shorter of the two, now know as Nagisa, had light, sparkling blonde hair and had a sort of 'cute' aura around him. He was pulling on Rei's arm, a big pout on his face, telling him to buy the swim suit with the penguins on them. Rei, his bright blue, distinguishable hair clashing with his red glasses, was continuing to ignore him and making his way to the counter.

I hurriedly plastered on a big grin as they approached me. "Hi, What can I do for you today?"

"Hello, we would like to purchase this swim sui-"

"Wow, Look Rei-Chan!"

Rei visibly frowned at the interruption as I looked down to see that Nagisa was referring to the free bowl of sweets, that we usually gave out to customers. I pointed at them. "You mean these?"

He nodded, his eyes practically shining. "C-Can I have one?"

I smiled at the way he phrased the question._ So cute..._

"Sure, take as many as you like!"

"Really!? Yay!" He proceeded with stuffing gallons of sweets into his pockets.

"U-um...Would you like a bag?" I wasn't sure if he was planning to actually carry all those sweets in his coat.

He laughed. "I'm okay! I'm not going to take that much!"

I nodded nervously. He was a very strange and lively character, his charisma reminded me greatly of someone I knew. I mentally shuddered.

"Ahem..."

I ripped my gaze from the gleeful blonde and back to his associate. To say he looked irked was an understatement. He glared at Nagisa before speaking. "As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted." He glanced at Nagisa, who was still filling up on sweets. "We would like to purchase this swim suit."

"O-Of course." I quickly scanned the costume's bar code and wrapped it up, not wanting to anger him anymore than he already was.

"That will be 14 yen, plea-"

"Wait!" The short blonde again interrupted.

Rei sighed, clearly annoyed by his friend's antics. "What is it now, Nagisa-Kun?"

"I want a pair of those!" He pointed behind me at the array of goggles on the wall.

Rei raised an eyebrow. "But you already have a pair!"

"But, Rei-Chan...!"

Nagisa again pouted. His eyes twinkled, coaxing Rei into buying what he wanted. The bluenette slumped his shoulders in defeat and told him to hurry. This was a battle he clearly knew he was not going to win.

Nagisa took no time in picking out which pair he wanted. He decided with the ones that had penguins on them. I stifled a laugh. _No surprise there._ The only problem was that they were placed really high up. I would have to get a ladder to reach them. _Dammit! _I inwardly cursed at my short height.

"Um, one moment please." I explained the situation to the two of them, which earned me an annoyed stare and a sympathetic smile in return_. _I hastily walked over to the storage room in the back, the stench of wood and ancient swim kit filling my nostrils. When was the last time someone cleaned this place up? As I moved about, I was careful not to trip over discarded pieces of equipment. My lungs burned for clean, fresh air rather than the dust that they were now inhaling. _You can do this_. I encouraged myself. _All you need is a ladder! _I squinted my eyes, the dim light from the bulb not helping my vision at all. I found tons of things - costumes, paddle boards, even a pair of giant oars! But sadly, no ladder was to be seen anywhere. I was just about ready to give up and tell the customers that they would have to come back, and get the goggles some other time, When I happened to trip over a box of swimming floats. "Ow!" _That would definitely leave a mark. _

I blindly stretched out my hand, trying to find something to help hoist me back up, when I felt a really cold and solid object. I looked up and found an old, dust covered metallic ladder and smiled in triumph. _Thank god I was getting paid for this_.

Dragging the heavy ladder with me, I made my way out of the musky smelling room and back into the main part of the shop. "Sorry to keep you...waiting...?"

I frowned in confusion when I saw that there was no one there."Um, hello?"

No one answered me. The shop was deathly quiet.

Where did the customers go? What happened? Why...? In my desperation, I called for the only staff member that I knew. "Karin!"

There was no reply, she must have gone home. _Why did they just leave like that? Did they steal anything?_ My heart sunk at the thought of finding no money in the cash register and I practically ran to the counter, blood rushing in my ears. I jerked open the till and counted the money carefully. It all seemed to be there? I counted again, just to make sure. It was as I had left it. _Then what..? _

I scanned the work top, looking for any clues that could answer all my questions, when my eye caught something near the bar code scanner. On closer inspection, I realized it was a note. What was that doing there? I licked my lips, trying to get moisture back into them, and opened the piece of paper. I flinched in surprise when money fell out. _Huh_?

My eyes quickly scanned the sheet, shocked at what I was reading.

_Hi! Sorry to leave so suddenly like that! We hope we didn't scare you! Don't worry we didn't take any thing! I'll be sure to come back for the goggles. _

_See you, Hika-Chan!_

_P.S Thank you for the sweets. :P_

I stared at the note in my hands, my mouth agape. I didn't know whether to be surprised at the fact that the sweets were all gone or that the person writing the message, I presumed it was Nagisa, gave me a nickname.

I outwardly groaned, my head throbbing as flashes of the eventful day ran through my mind. The boredom, the unexpected phone call and the innocent looking blonde with the sappy grin. I balled my hand into a fist, successfully scrunching up the note.

"Cute, my ass."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hi guys! Here's the second chapter to Eccentric! Please read and review! I hope you enjoy it! :)**

Chapter 2 - Sweet Thief Returns

I stared at the Entrance of the shop for what felt like the hundredth time today. It had been exactly a week after the incident and neither 'Sweet Thief' or his friend had showed up since then. I was quietly fuming to myself while sorting through the money in the till. I still couldn't believe they hadn't taken anything.

_That nuisance! Making me count through all this stupid money!_ I growled in irritation, the very thought of the blonde aggravating me to no end. _I mean, he wasn't even that cute anyway! The annoying little... _My thoughts were cut off when a hand banged down onto the desk. I looked up to see Ishi, another part-timer like myself, glaring at me. She squinted her eyes, chewing incessantly on a piece of gum. I could tell, by the way she was looking at me, that I was going to get an earful.

"I swear, you have got to be the most annoying person that I have ever met in my entire life!" She spat in my face. I mentally rolled my eyes, already used to her constant complaining. When we had first met, I had assumed Ishi was a very kind and caring girl. But as they say, looks can be deceiving and I quickly found out that she wasn't as nice as I had originally thought. My first day of work was full of her whining and moaning about the way I did things. 'Don't touch that..., What do you think your doing! and that's not how you do it!' were all phrases I was becoming very familiar with. Unfortunately for me, She had worked at 'Splash 'N' Dash' longer than I had, which meant that I had to listen to everything she said. _Yay!_

I tuned back into her long rant just as she was finishing. "...because you have decided to interrupt me while I was working, with your rapid muttering. You are now relived from your duty behind the desk and will continue with arranging the shelves." She gave a short nod and returned to whatever 'work' she was doing before.

I grumbled under my breath but proceeded to the shelves in the back. Of course she had to give me the most tedious and dull job in the shop. Believe me, checking the labels and price tags on nose clips was not fun. _Well, on the bright side, I'm not fretting over 'you know who' anymore ._

I smiled at the thought and took my time checking each product. Maybe my afternoon shift wouldn't be so bad after all? I was so delighted that I almost felt like thanking Ishi. Almost being the key word. I hummed to myself, straightening the sport bags on the hooks, feeling as if nothing could shatter my newly found good mood.

But, like in so many other cases, I was painfully wrong. Too wrapped up in my own satisfaction, I failed to hear the entrance's bell tinkle. This mishap on my part, caused me to be very surprised and shocked, when I felt someone jump on my back from behind, yelling "Hika-Chan!"

As I was thrown to the ground in a matter of seconds, many things passed through my mind all at once. It was a mixture of 'what the hell?' and 'what is going on?', and a bunch of very colorful words that I do not wish to repeat. However, my mind seemed to zero in on one thing, when I heard a strangely, familiar voice that was laced with concern. "Hika-Chan, are you alright?"

My eyes snapped open, staring into the face of the last person that I wanted to see. Nagisa.

Ignoring the throbbing pain in my head, I got up off the floor. Anger rolled off of my body as I gave the blonde the most deathlike glare that I could muster up. I was quite proud, since he actually looked like he was pretty scared. Perfect.

I gritted my teeth, my hands shaking in exasperation. I knew I was about to explode and I wasn't going to hold myself back.

"H-Hika-Chan?" The blonde again tried to talk to me, probably wanting to calm me down. That was definitely not going to happen.

I slowly inhaled through my nose and opened my mouth, letting my thoughts be heard. "Y-You Idiot! What the hell is wrong with you? First, you come in here and pull a prank by taking all the sweets from the bowl, and then only leave a note behind telling me you didn't steal anything!, then you torture me even more by making me wonder and think about you every second of the day!, and now your here again, glomping me from behind for no reason! Do you hate me or something?"

I breathed out heavily, finally finished with what I wanted to say. I looked up to see Nagisa's apologetic expression. "I-I'm sorry Hika-Chan, I didn't mean to worry you...but you do have to admit, it was pretty funny, right?"

I stiffened in my spot. _How dare he...!_ I was very nearly close to shouting at him again, when a voice interrupted me. "U-Um, N-Nagisa-Kun?..."

I looked over to see a green eyed boy, with a caring smile on his face. He looked tentatively between me and the blonde. "W-What is going on...?"

Suddenly, realization hit me as I recalled just how loudly I had been yelling. My face flushed in embarrassment, my eyes trailing towards the other members in the room who were all now staring at both me and Nagisa.

I struggled to explain myself. "U-Um...he...Sweets...um..." However much I tried, my words ended up coming out jumbled. I could hear Nagisa laughing to himself quietly and I glared him.

I took a deep breath and tried again. "A-Anyway, I'd like to ask you to please leave the shop...now." I wasn't really allowed to tell people to get out of the shop, but at this point I didn't care.

Nagisa whimpered. "But, Hika-Chan! I came back here to especially buy those pair of goggles, and I even brought all my friends with me!"

He pointed in the direction of the other customers in the room, who I noticed were all boys. I gave them a once over, recognizing his friend from before with the blue hair and I grew irritated once again. I promptly shook my head. "Then I am afraid, you will all have to leave."

With that, I turned to get back to sorting through the shelves. _Humph!, serves them right. Hikari: 1, Nagisa and friends: 0._

My mini victory was short lived though as Ishi decided now was the time to intervene. "Hikari!, how could say something so rude to our loyal and valuable customers? I should report and have you fired right away!"

I gasped, not knowing if she was joking or not. She was fully capable of getting me sacked and I was always careful not to do anything that would majorly upset or anger her. That was, until now, of course.

I bowed my head and stared at the floor in shame. I really needed this job, it was helping me pay for my school fees and education was the most important thing in my life. I bit my lip, about to apologize for my behavior, when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Please don't blame Hika-Chan, It was my fault! I did something really mean to her and made her feel stressed because of it, I'm really sorry!" Nagisa bowed repeatedly, softening Ishi's glare.

"Well, I'll let her off with a warning this time." She looked at me. "but don't let me catch you shouting at the customers again."

"Y-Yes." I quickly bowed, finding it strange how forgiving Ishi was being. _Maybe under all that rotten, horrible, bossy personality there was a kind, compassionate and mature person?_

She smiled at me. "Now, get back to work!" _Maybe not._

Ishi turned and left, leaving me awkwardly alone with the subject of my annoyance and his friends. I tried breaking the ice. "So,...goggles, huh?"

Nagisa grinned in my direction. "Yep! Come on guys, let's go to the counter!" He ran off before anyone else could say anything.

I squeezed my forehead, feeling a headache come on and looked towards his group of friends. The uncomfortable atmosphere was creeping back in. "I guess we should go to the counter then...?"

No-one said anything and I started to feel uneasy. I fidgeted with my uniform, until after a long silence passed, one of them spoke.

"Sorry about that." It was the green eyed boy, with the gentle demeanor. "I'm Tachibana Makoto, by the way." He held out his hand and shyly smiled at me.

Not wanting be rude, I grasped his hand firmly. "Saito Hikari"

He nodded slightly and introduced his two other friends. One of which I kind of knew, Ryugazaki Rei and the other Nanase Haruka. I bowed at them politely, neither one seeming very concerned about my presence.

"And, you have probably already met Hazuki Nagisa...?"_ Hazuki, so that was the twerps last name._

I smiled in mock joy. "Yes! He is a very..." A_nnoying, infuriating and pesky little bastard. _"...interesting person."

Makoto laughed at my description of his friend, clearly not hearing the hostility in my voice. He motioned towards the front desk and I followed him to where Nagisa was holding the penguin designed goggles. I stared at the blonde as he started to cheer loudly, clearly happy about his new owned possession.

I sighed._ Yep, definitely interesting._

**A/N: So, was this chapter, okay? I feel like there was not enough content :( Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed and please review and tell me what you think! :)**


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